Slither.io wants to be the new Agar.io

There’s every chance you’ve not heard of Agar.io.

But that’s a bit of a surprise, really. The game, despite being largely absent from the press, was one of 2015’s biggest online hits and even won itself a starring role on Netflix drama House of Cards.

And now a clone with a twist wants to capture that popularity.

Slither.io looks like a Snake clone but in fact has far more in common with Miniclip’s Agar.io. Players grow by eating orbs, and the leaderboard tracks a player’s rank (by size) on the current server. Even some of the smaller details are the same, too, such as the way it doesn’t force players to register or even use a nickname, and the swappable skins (which are earned by Tweeting out your score).

Oh and players still use the most inappropriate names imaginable, too.

There are key differences, though. Whereas in Agar.io the aim was to consume others by floating over smaller players, in Alither.io hitting another player results in death. Although players can happily move over their own bodies (unlike Snake). So really, the trick is to trick players to bump into you.

The controls are dead simple, too – direct your mouse to move, click a mouse button to move faster.

With a notable size advantage, and the ability to move over your own body, encircling rivals is a key strategy. Upon death, rivals split into dots, which in turn can be consumed to increase your own size.

The browser version is proving popular online, while the free smartphone outing is currently top of the free iOS charts. It’s also grabbed the attention of YouTubers such as PewDiePie.

Here’s Felix doing his thing: